Social media marketers are always on the lookout for various ways on how to boost their social media campaign. Some brands are still looking for the best practices that can provide the best results. Others, however, are going against the grain. They have found a way to amaze their audience.

In this post, I’m going to show you some strategies that have proven to work for other brands on social media.

Be Nice

That is, be nice to everyone, especially to your competitors. You have probably seen and witnessed roasting between brands. Should you follow them too?

Well, not all brands or companies can reap all the big rewards when injecting a big burn or insult into their conversations online. This means that not every business can disrespect other brands without getting serious consequences.

That said, it would be safer for your company to go the opposite way – be extra nice to everyone online, especially to your tight competitors.

Did you remember when Xbox tweeted a “congratulations” message to PlayStation 4 for the latter’s launch day?

What can you learn from it?

Well, if you can’t beat them, join them. Online conversations can be difficult to control, especially when your competitor’s product is trending on social media. Instead of attacking PlayStation 4, Xbox did it in a very classy way. As a result, they earned extra points from their online followers, even those who hated their brand.

It can be really difficult to compete with other brands, without offending someone. However, when you play nice with your competitors, other people who don’t know yet about your company can take you as a nice and trustworthy brand.

When you engage with your competitor in a friendly way, you’re not actually risking your PR side. You’re also not going against your brand’s voice rules. You are actually still competing with the attention of online users.

The result? Groupon gathered more than 12,000 comments and over 21,000 likes. It became their most positive post on their social media history.

When you play along nicely, you can get the positive attention of your audience. In most cases, you just need to roll with it to better compete.

Speak the Common Language

Brands that speak the language of the majority of their online audience could have an effective social media strategy. It resulted in an increased engagement. Not only that. It would also result in positive sentiment as they make slang become a part of their social strategy.

Even if you hate to say a certain slang word, like “bae,” you may have to swallow that hate and embrace the word. The use of millennial vernacular could help you earn thousands of mentioned.

Why speaking the vernacular can be an effective social media strategy? It is because this trick will help you earn the respect and attention of the teens and those who are using it.

But you must only do it in moderation. Test it out with various versions in your shout-outs. Then, evaluate the overall reaction. In this way, you will know whether it is worthy sticking to such word or move on to a completely new strategy.

Darken Social Media Pages

This is a bold move and it may or may not be effective on your social media strategy. But it was a success for Taco Bell last year.

The social media silence was a huge success for Taco Bell. But it might not be for you. For one, it is not easy to orchestrate. For Taco Bell, it was too risky. But the company took that risk to show off their new app of ordering fast food.

It was a good fit for the company. But it is not for everyone to follow. They did restore their social presence after six months.

Appear to be Drunk

During last year’s superbowl, JCPenney tweeted a most likely drunk tweet. But it did surprise everyone. And that would include the team who actually planned the “drank” campaign. What they did is to intrigue their online followers by jumbling tweets. But they later revealed that the jumbled words were the result of typing while wearing mittens.

The exact assumption of their followers that they were tweeting while drinking made the brand to be the most talked-of post during last year’s superbowl. What was great about the campaign was that the company didn’t even spend millions of dollars for an ad spot.

When it came to attracting the attention of online audience, JC Penney seemed to have won the unique strategy. You, too, can have a successful social media campaign by applying unique strategies that will “wow” your audience. But you should think of it very carefully. Assign some people to brainstorm ideas on how to amaze your followers on social media accounts.

Allow them to orchestrate something that has never been done before.

Should You Follow These Strategies?

It is really up to you. Since they have already been played by these brands, they might no longer be effective. But because every brand is different, you might want to try one of them. It might be worth the risk. However, you should be thinking of a more unique approach. Combine one or two of those strategies for your next social media campaign.

Conclusion

When finding out a way to surprise your audience, those social media strategies can pull a good trick. But you must be fully committed to your strategy. Else, it won’t work. Be ready to whatever consequence your campaign may get. If it is not the kind of reception you have desired, then do not be frustrated about it. You can always come back from your social media fail. The most important thing here is to handle it with decency and pride.